In this new Written series, Athletics Ireland wILL highlight clubs from across Ireland that are doing extraordinary things in their communities and for performance.
Ciarraí Thiar AC is the only athletics club currently active on the Dingle peninsula with the next nearest club over a 50-minute drive away in either Tralee or Killarney.
The story of Ciarraí Thiar AC’s inception was not one driven by performance, but health and a need locally for a sport that’s not team-focused, says club chairman Donald Grogan.
“We have three daughters… I would have said, along with the other parents and members that came to the initial meetings, ‘let’s offer them something else’.
“I guess if they’ve decided that doing the team sports locally isn’t for them, then there wasn’t really another option,” the club coach told Athletics Ireland.
Grogan ran as a child with St. Mary’s in West Clare and then recreationally while at college. He isn’t a Kerry native but is the local pharmacist and runs the business alongside his coaching and community commitments.
He expressed his surprise upon moving to the region that there was no athletics club: “I was surprised when I moved to Dingle in West Kerry that there wasn’t an athletics club, and that was a general comment from lots of people. Isn’t it surprising that there isn’t a club in West Kerry, because every other part of Kerry has an athletics club or had an athletics club.”
There used to be a club in the town, but Grogan explains it petered out after the 1970s. He is determined that won’t happen again.
“The thing I’m trying to avoid already, even though we’re only in year two of it, is to not have the one or two people doing everything, because then once they step back, or they retire, or they die… then all of a sudden, the thing stops.
“Whereas by having a lot of coaches, and are trying to empower as many people as we can… we keep going,” he adds.
Ciarraí Thiar AC doesn’t have the typical problem of not enough coaches. Grogan explains they currently have around 30 adults that have already completed their coaching qualifications with Athletics Ireland, with further plans to upskill in the near future.
The club even filled a course with just their own members.
Ciarraí Thiar AC have around 30 coaches that have completed athletics Ireland courses
In just over two years, the club has grown to around 200 members and operates separate sessions for children and teenagers and couch to 5k programmes for adults.
Uniquely a lot of these sessions are conducted through Irish. Being in the Gaeltacht, the Irish language is an important part of everyday life in Dingle, and the club is no different.
Ciarraí Thiar AC is among one of a few, or the only athletics club in the country that operates predominately through Irish.
Grogan describes the club as “bilingual” and even jokes that the children who are educated exclusively through Irish have a better grasp than adult coaches
“By being a club that is in the Gaeltacht, we are a sort of a bilingual club… We are doing our training through the medium of Irish as much as we can… Some coaches do not have Irish and we’re giving them hints and maybe handouts that have different phrases on it,” the club chairman explains.
Grogan also outlines the impact of the Irish team at the Olympics has had on females in enquiring about membership at their Dingle-based club.
“I’m highly conscious of the fact that female participation in sport in general isn’t as good as it should be.
“The girls in the athletics club would be coming along wearing the ribbons in their hair (like the women’s 4x400m squad). There is definitely a bounce from it (the Olympics).”
The dad of three also says the club members have been inspired by Kate O’Connor’s recent indoor exploits, and they make a conscious effort to include multi-events in their training.
“They’re recently watching the European Championships, a lot of the athletes, the children will have been watching it… Kate O’Connor, we are doing shot put and long jump and high jump and turbo javelins and different bits with the children… even just seeing the likes of Kate O’Connor doing all of the different events so well, it’s just great to see that the children are seeing that as well.”
